Comrade General Secretary Ahmad Sa’adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement from behind the bars of the occupier’s prison on January 14, 2009, calling for full unity of all national and Islamic forces as the immediate task of our people in resistance to the occupier, noting that it has continued to fail to achieve its political objectives.

Comrade Sa’adat stated that the war crimes of the occupier against our steadfast Palestinian people have only continued, yet have also continued to run up against and be confronted by the steadfastness of our people, the valiant resistance, and Arab and international solidarity with our people’s struggle. He called for:

1. Concerted and unified efforts of all of our political and social forces and unity in resistance against the occupation. He demanded that the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank release all of their political detainees and end the practice of imprisoning those who resist the occupation, calling upon all to upgrade the response and the resistance to stop this cowardly aggression, defeat the occupation and achieve our national goals.

2. To accelerate the formation of a unified national leadership of all national and Islamic political factions at this critical phase of the struggle of our people, establishing unity and a comprehensive dialogue after the end of aggression to set our Palestinian house in order to continue to confront the occupier and his crimes.

3. For the Arab official position to rise at least to that of the position of Venezuela and people’s leader Hugo Chavez, demanding that Arab regimes stop using Palestinian internal division to justify the failure of the regimes to perform their duty to support the Palestinian resistance and our steadfast people, and to break the Arab and international silence and complicity with the occupation’s war crimes.

4. Any international or Arab initiative to address the brutal aggression against our people must be based on prosecuting the occupier for war crimes, the withdrawal of occupation forces, the immediate lifting of the siege and the full and complete opening of all border crossings, especially the Rafah crossing. Any smaller issues can be discussed later in the context of achieving the national interest of our people and ending the political goals of the aggression.

5. Any talk of long-term truce must be discussed only in the context of protecting our people and achieving the national rights of our people – return, self-determination and independence and sovereignty with Jerusalem as our capital.